Comics about the Wild West and Native Americans

Growing up I devoured comics (and books), amongst them comics about the Wild West - cowboys and Indians. We've always had a fairly eclectic comic book market back home, with lots of French, Benelux, Italian and Spanish comics alongside UK and US comics perhaps more familiar to UK readers.

A different thread sparked memories of such a few and I wanted to reminisce a bit as well as asking for recommendations of titles I mightn't've heard of.

One of my all time favourites when I was little was Tex Willer. First published in 1948 by an Italian writer/artist duo, it was a big hit across parts of Europe in the 60s, 70s and 80s. Apparently it's Italy's longest-running title that is still being published.

Tex is a classic man's man with a strong honour code, and a lawman to boot. Yet the world of Tex Willer wasn't a John Wayne black and white moral affair. He fights whites as well as Indians, usually along with sidekick Kit Carson. His ultimate nemesis is Mefisto, a kinda Satanic character that reoccurs as the evil mastermind seeking to kill Tex and his allies.

I've not read any Tex Willer for decades, so I can't really say how it stands up today, but I have fond memories nonetheless. It seemed quite adult to me back then, certainly more so than my next fond memory.

Sølvpilen or The Silver Arrow, was a Belgian title created by Frank Sels in 1965. Featuring the eponymous hero as the chief of the Kiowa tribe, the focus here was less on moral ambiguity and more on peace. The Silver Arrow seeks peace between warring natives and invaders. That said, all wasn't hippy dippy. One of the chief draws for a young male audience was the nubile Moonbeam, or Månestråle as I knew her. While scenes like these were usually censored from Norwegian editions, it goes to show the kinds of values that underlay some of the writing.

The above shows Moonbeam about to be tied up to a pole (which happened regularly - see below) whilst awaiting sacrificial murder. Fantastically exciting stuff for a 10 year old.

The two above were probably my first two Wild West comic loves alongside Lucky Luke, which should need no introduction, and Blueberry - ditto.

I'm talking about how I felt about it at the time. Bit of a difference, no?

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Saying "fantastically exciting stuff for a 10 year old" implies any 10 year old and is different to saying "fantastically exciting stuff for 10 year old me".

If you're wanting to reminisce fondly about the things that you enjoyed as a child, I think it's important to be explicitly clear - if those things contain racist and sexist tropes - about what you think and assume. It isn't obvious from what you wrote that you are currently aware that this would not be exciting stuff for a great many 10 year olds.

Saying "fantastically exciting stuff for a 10 year old" implies any 10 year old and is different to saying "fantastically exciting stuff for 10 year old me".

If you're wanting to reminisce fondly about the things that you enjoyed as a child, I think it's important to be explicitly clear - if those things contain racist and sexist tropes - about what you think and assume. It isn't obvious from what you wrote that you are currently aware that this would not be exciting stuff for a great many 10 year olds.

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i think it would excite a reaction in the heart of a 10 year auld native american.

wasn't hitler a great fan of westerns? they were immensely popular in germany in the early 20th century.

e2a: so he was

So what books did Hitler value and even cherish? [...] he [...] was passionate about the adventure novels of Karl May, many of them Westerns in roughly the style of Owen Wister or Zane Grey. Hitler once wrote: "The first Karl May that I read was The Ride Across the Desert. I was overwhelmed! I threw myself into him immediately which resulted in a noticeable decline in my grades." How strange and sad it is to think of this evil, evil man as a wide-eyed schoolboy avoiding his homework in order to read one more exciting page about Old Shatterhand and the Apache chief, Winnetou.

I loved Karl May's Winnetou as a child. Read all the volumes several times.
Karl May apparently never made it to America. It's all just his imagination, which is weird, considering how observant and descriptive his writing is.
The films were shot in Romania.

Someone here recommended "Scalped", it's a kinda modern day western about a Native American cop who heads back to the reservation who grew up in and tackles the casino gangster. The 3 volumes I've read are really, really good.

About 98% of the stuff with Native American characters I read when I was a kid probably belongs in a skip, but I remember a couple of Alpha Flight characters being a little more nuanced, even though one of them was yet another shaman.

I guess they were popular in most of Europe at the time? Worth bearing in mind that the Wild West was wild up until the very late 19th century, so this was all within living memory as it were. As far from a 1920s European as the Vietnam war would be from us.

I think Stalin was as well as Tito . The East Germans produced westerns in the 60s and 70s. Apparantly the pre war western novels of Karl May had been popular in Germany but he was liked by Hitler and considered to be anti socialist. Instead they commissioned films based on an East German author who was sympathetic to the plight of the native Americans . Sons of the Great Bear is supposed to be the biggie , the good whites coming to the aid of the Native Americans .Die Söhne der großen Bärin (1966) - IMDb

I read the thread title as asking for suggestions of good Western comics that focused on Native Americans. So I suggest 'Comanche Moon' by Jack Jackson. Because I adore it. I'll let this article speak for its brilliance:The Bronze Age Of Blogs: Comanche Moon

The Soviet Union also produced Western-influenced 'Easterns,' mostly horseback action films set in the Steppe or Central Asia during or not long after the Russian Civil War. Red Army, Cheka or Bolshevik militia versus remnant Whites, Basmachi rebels and bandits, even dastardly anarchists.